US Airways, the carrier seeking to merge with AMR's American Airlines, received more than 16,500 applications for 450 flight-attendant positions in its biggest hiring push for the job since 2010.

About 700 applicants had advanced to the interview stage and 240 offers had been made, US Airways said in its employee newsletter published this week.

The first round of new hires had already started training, added spokeswoman Michelle Mohr.

"The interest around it has been astounding," Mohr said.

She said the airline began accepting applications in November last year.

The influx echoes the rush for flight-attendant jobs at Delta Air Lines, which said last month that its 300 openings attracted 22,000 candidates. US Airways drew 14,000 applications for the 420 positions it posted two years ago.

In particular, US Airways was looking to hire speakers of Hebrew or Portuguese to work on its flights to Tel Aviv and Rio de Janeiro, and for service to Sao Paulo scheduled to begin in May, Mohr said.

The airline will accept applications until the end of next month and has no plans to hire more flight attendants beyond the 450 advertised positions, according to Mohr.

Delta has said it may expand its latest round of hiring to as many as 400 positions.

Passenger airlines in the United States employed 384,310 workers in October last year, down 1.3 per cent from a year earlier, the transportation department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said in December.

October's total, the latest month for which federal figures are available, was the lowest since May 2011.

US Airways, the fifth-largest US carrier by passenger traffic, is pursuing a tie-up with No 3 American as that airline restructures in bankruptcy. A merger would create the world's biggest airline.